Joan and I are on track to spend over 90 nights in the backcountry again this year. It’s not a metric we chase so much as the natural result of building our lives around time outdoors.
For us, getting outside as much as possible is why we live here.
Moab has its challenges, but its location lets us shape a life we enjoy.
To support that lifestyle, we keep a nearly weekly ritual of sorting gear, restocking supplies, doing laundry, looking at maps, and heading out on a trip. And then repeating.
It’s a simple life, and one we value.
On backpacking trips, we also have a ritual after dinner.
Mainly –
Chocolate.
And sometimes I pack extra chocolate. Photo from Joan.
And a hot drink, usually cider with a splash or two of rum.
To quote Joan, “We sure know how to make 42 inches of space work for us for the 14 hours of darkness!”
The chocolate and hot drink, along with the glow of our Luci Light candle lantern, bring the night in gently. We read, peek out of the tent at the stars and the occasional shooting star, and sometimes hear an owl hoot or a coyote yip.
Backpacking is more than the gear you carry or the goals you check off. It’s the quiet hours between leaving the trailhead, reaching the place you planned for, and making camp.
Those quiet spaces are what make backpacking meaningful for Joan and me.
The glow of red rock, alpenglow on a mountain crest, or walking a ridge and seeing the land spread out below.
It’s enjoying the landscape while noshing on chocolate, sipping a hot drink, and remembering why we moved here, despite whatever curveballs life throws our way.
That’s why the Gear Pick of the Year for 2025 is Chocolate, Cider, and Rum.
If gear enables the goals of a trip, then chocolate, cider, and rum earn their place.
It provides calories.
It provides pain relief, thanks to the medicinal rum.
It provides warmth.
And it helps us enjoy the place we call home.
I took this photo while sipping cider along the Green River.
Not everything that earns its place in our kit has an entry on a spreadsheet, and while the distance we travel matters, it’s the quiet moments afterward that stay with you.
For years to come, long after we take a bit of chocolate and take that last sip of hot cider on a cold night.